A few weeks had gone by since Lillie had joined the purple dragons, the kid was put on a few different missions that Kendra gave her to do to retrieve different pieces of equipment.

Sometimes she'd get back to back missions which exhausted Lillie so sometimes Jason would tag along with Lillie to help out, although the real reason he tagged along was to check in on Lillie to make sure that the kid was alright.

Tonight however was different, Lillie arrived at the headquarters and she gave a sleepy yawn as her sleep schedule had differed since most of the missions were late at night so she'd often sleep during the day and be somewhat more active at nighttime. She stretched and Kendra looked over at the kid before she motioned Jeremy and Jason to leave the room, she needed a chat with Lillie.

Jeremy understood and he shut his laptop as he got up, leaving the room as Jason followed but he had a bit of concern on his face as he glanced at Lillie before he left the room and shut the door.

"Lillie, something has been going on with your productivity. You've been getting less and less stuff for us, care to explain?" Kendra asked.

"Oh well.. sorry, but I guess I've been a bit more tired lately. I know I should have done more.." Lillie said, she looked at Kendra as the lilac haired teen walked over and she seemed annoyed by what Lillie told her.

"Exhaustion is just a poor excuse. Push your body to its limits, understand?" Kendra said, her tone a bit harsh as Lillie backed away a bit as she went to leave but Kendra grabbed her wrist a bit roughly. "Where do you think you're going sunflower?" Kendra hissed.

"O-ow..! Stop it, you're hurting me!" Lillie whimpered and she gave a yelp before she was pulled back to Kendra as Kendra held the kid's face in her hands, her grip tightening slightly.

"Listen to me well sunflower. Tonight we're going on a misson to retrieve a special piece of equipment, you better not mess this up for us. Get your shit together." Kendra said, her tone almost laced with venom as Lillie looked at Kendra with fear in her bright orange eyes and the child's pupils shrank a bit.

"Now. Get ready for the mission tonight." Kendra let Lillie's face go and she patted the kid's head as she told Jeremy and Jason to come back, Lillie panted quietly as her arms trembled and she gripped one to try and stop it from trembling.

Jason followed Jeremy back into the room as he took notice of Lillie shaking, having a bit of worry that something happened during the talk with Kendra. Kendra told the two that they were doing the misson tonight and she went to grab some of the gear while Jason went to Lillie, he crouched down next to her as he made sure that him and Lillie were in the clear so they could talk. "Lillie, everything okay? What did Kendra tell you?" Jason whispered.

Lillie snapped out of her terrified state as she calmed her shaking body down and forced a smile, making it seem like the conversation earlier was nothing. "I'm fine, she just wanted to tell me about my role for the mission tonight. I won't let you down..!" Lillie chimed, she then went to help out by carrying some of the gear and Jason watched worriedly as he nervously gripped the note in his jacket pocket.

"Lillie... both us know that was a lie." Jason mumbled to himself and he then tried to focus on the main task for tonight as he gave a quiet sigh while he moved his glasses for a moment, he had tried everything he could to prevent Kendra from seriously hurting this kid but felt like he was failing.

Timeskip

Soon, all four of the dragons were on a rooftop as they were going over the plan to steal the part they needed to retrieve which was a unique computer chip that could build up multiple strains of code but if it was modified to enhance the code building abilities then it could do much more.

"Everyone knows their place? This is the last time I'm telling you." Kendra said, Lillie merely gave a nod as Jeremy and Jason agreed and soon the plan was set into action as their target was a lab containing the chip, the cameras surrounding the building were shut down thanks to Jeremy hacking the cameras.

They then went into the building as they had to keep an eye out for any security guards roaming the floors, they made their way to the lower floors of the lab and got the door unlocked once they managed to disarm the encrypted keypad lock.

They walked inside and searched around as Lillie was quiet during the whole misson, she couldn't stop thinking about what Kendra had done as Jason glanced at Lillie before he looked away for a moment and he felt like guilt and worry landed on him like a ton of bricks. "Got it!" Jeremy whisper-shouted, he grabbed a small cylinder glass container holding the computer chip inside it.

"Let's move." Kendra said, all four of them left the lab and made their escape but as they reached the rooftops they heard a familiar voice which made Kendra scowl. "The purple dragons, I should have guessed!"

"Heh. Well, if it isn't Von Ryan." Kendra remarked sarcastically, looking over as Lillie looked up and she saw four figures on a rooftop and was certainly surprised since she had taken notice that each of them had different mask colors but also the fact that they were mutant turtles. Lillie then looked at the turtle with a purple mask holding some sort of metal like bō as she got scared, pulling her hood up.

"Okay purple jerks, hand over the stolen thingy!" Raph said, punching one fist into the other as he was itching for a fight tonight.

"Yeah right, we're not that stupid. Let's move!" Kendra called, the dragons then made their escape but had a backup plan as Raph, Leo, Mikey and Donnie went after them and Leo slashed open a portal as it opened in front of Jeremy and he was punched in the face as Jeremy lost grip on the chip which sent it flying.

"That's the thing they stole!" Mikey said, he jumped up after it but gave a yell as he was knocked down by a drone and Kendra gave a laugh as she had anticipated this situation so she brought along some lion dog statue drones as they launched a few projectile missiles at the turtle brothers.

Raph used his power smash attacks to hit some missiles away as Leo dodged a few but ran to grab the chip with donnie following behind, Jason was quick and caught the chip before it hit the ground. Lillie ran after Jason and she glanced behind her, seeing Leo and Donnie running after them.

"They're gaining!!" Lillie squeaked out, she gave a yelp when Jason picked her up and carried her in one arm until a small missile blasted in the way of Leo and Donnie, the blast sent all four of them back.

Jason was knocked off the rooftop with Lillie and Lillie gave a small scream as they fell, Jason instinctively held the kid close as they both landed in some trash in a alleyway below which cushioned most of the fall's impact.

"Ugh... my head.." Jason sat up carefully and one of his lenses had cracked, having a few soot marks on his jacket but he seemed okay as he then felt worry sink in as he looked down at Lillie who clung to him. "Lillie, what about you? Are you okay?" Jason asked.

"Yeah..! Ow.." Lillie rubbed her head and she then looked up at where they fell as Jason did too before grabbing the chip out of his jacket pocket, he knew what Kendra was planning to use it for as he got out of the trash and helped Lillie out too before he crouched in front of her.

"Lillie.. I need you to listen to me very closely okay? Kendra is not going to stop. Not until she gets her hands on this, if she does then everything could thrown into mass chaos. I'm sorry that I had to lie.. I'm sorry I couldn't help you when you needed it.." Jason said.

"Jase.." Lillie was then given the chip and she looked at him with her bright orange eyes as Jason patted her head gently. "Kendra can't get her hands on this chip. It's like a game.. hold onto it as long as you can, okay?" Jason asked.

"But, I don't.. I-I can't.. I'm scared Jason..." Lillie said, she was then pulled into a hug by Jason as she sniffled a little but hugged back tight and Jason let the kid hug him for a bit longer. "I know Lillie, but there are scarier things.. I can't protect you forever, I'm sorry." Jason said, he eventually pulled away from the hug as Lillie gave a nod but was given the chip as she held it close to her.

"Stay out of sight and don't come find me, protect the chip." Jason said, he was determined to try and prevent Kendra from building up project Alpha Beta even if it meant sabotaging the plans just to keep a kid safe.

"But–" Lillie started, she jolted a bit when Jason put a hand on her shoulder as she looked at him but gripped the cylinder container she was given as she knew that look.

"Stay out of sight and protect the chip.." Lillie repeated, Jason cracked a small smile but patted the kid's shoulder as he then got up and he went back to the fire escape.

He climbed back up to the rooftops as he felt a few silent tears pricking at his eyes but used one hand to wipe them away, he had to do whatever it takes to prevent the project from being built and so Lillie didn't get involved.

Once on the rooftop, he took a breath as Jason then called for Jeremy and Kendra that they had to fall back as Kendra groaned quietly but ran after him as Jeremy followed and the dragons escaped. "Where's the kid?" Jeremy asked.

"She got separated from me when the blast hit!" Jason said, Kendra gave a quiet growl as they continued their way back to their headquarters and Jason silently hoped that he did the right thing but couldn't help but have an unsettling feeling of worry that Kendra had something up her sleeve.

"Let's just get back, I've got something that'll locate sunflower. Besides, the sooner we apply the chip to project Alpha Beta the better. It's near completion." Kendra said, she was going to finish this project even if she had to do everything herself.